In addition to the ingredients essential for the washing process such as surfactants and builders, washing agents generally contain further components which may be grouped together under the heading of washing auxiliaries and thus include various groups of active substances such as foam regulators, graying inhibitors, bleaching agents, bleach activators and color-transfer inhibitors. Such auxiliary substances also include substances, the presence of which enhances the washing power of surfactants, without they themselves generally necessarily having pronounced surfactant behavior. The same also applies mutatis mutandis to cleaning agents for hard surfaces. Such substances are often known as detergency boosters.
International patent application WO 2010/024468 A1 discloses polymers containing sulfonate groups which contain proportions of for example up to 30 wt. % which originate from the monomer 3-allyloxy-2-hydroxypropane sulfonate which, as described therein, are suitable for use as a builder in washing agents.
It has surprisingly been found that specific polymers containing sulfonate groups enhance primary washing power particularly effectively.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.